the mainstream ‘chipmunching media’ hypes Hincapie every year & every year without fail, it never happens. He simply crumbles & disappears out the back.
Reality is, his best days are long gone, and aside from his experience, he is not competitive.

I enjoyed reading the post you linked from a year ago. It would be nice to see big George win a monument as I think he deserves it but I doubt he’s got the legs to beat Tommeke or Spartacus anymore. He would have to get lucky and make the right break as I can’t see him riding away or out sprinting any of the big favourites.

Flashing Pedals and Neil: you never know and you guys know experience and luck count for a lot in Rouxbaix. See O’Grady or Duclos-Lasalle. Still, it will be hard to look past Boonen, Cancellara and Hushovd and several more names.

Unrelated question here. Is there a way to subscribe to the comments? If I remember correctly I used to be able to click something which would email me all further comments on a post that I’d commented on.

Of course all Garmin riders will be perfectly “on message” about the qualities of their new Navigate tyres and how they’re far better than the stuff they ride last year & that caused them to crash all the time. Despite the fact they’ve only ridden to the shops & back on the new rubber (see Dan Martin’s column in Procycling) Heaven forbid you suggest Garmin ride anything else.

Isn’t passing one product off as another false-advertising? I’m going to call Gray Manrod to look into it

Agreed. The shameless American cycling media knows nothing but the U.S. riders. Even as an American it’s embarrassing. However, what’s just as embarrassing is the constant back handed remarks and digs that most American riders receive by non-American fans. I guess we deserve some of it but it seems rare that you find someone outside of the U.S. that can come up with an unbiased opinion about American riders and isn’t claiming some sort of exclusivity to the Euros stamp on cycling. Sometimes cycling fans remind me of some horrible high school clique where the American riders just aren’t “cool”. And God forbid a Euro actually like a U.S. rider . Then again, our media can’t be unbiased so I’m not sure why I should expect anything different outside of the U.S. C’est la vie. BTW, this is pointed at you inrng…just race fans in general.

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. Even though I like George, I agree with everyone; his time unfortunately has come and gone. Nothing more I would love to see than him win a race during the Classics season but it’s going to take an act of God for him to get to the line first. I wonder if that’s even going to be his charter this season though? Or if his season will consist of delivering a young’in to the line or simply teaching them the ropes?

I’m new to cycling tech so what is it about the green sidewalls that makes this a “spring” tire? Is it a special tire that is specific to the harsh classic conditions? Also, I noticed you used the term “tubs”. Is that synonymous with tube or tire?

eatiusbirdius: I got your rant the first time, no worries. I admire Hincapie’s experience but he’s not a contender at the same level. As for the green sidewalls, some manufacturers do an “all weather” tub and for some reason they have been green. I think Vittoria where the first to do them. As for tubs and clinchers see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAwvFhzS5_A as this explains it.

inrng: Cheers for the link. Makes a lot of sense now. As for Hincapie, agreed. Sorry again for the rant. Just gets to me sometimes. Thanks again for your all of your hard work. I very much enjoy your insight and posts!